We’ve got a jam-packed MB for you this morning. Today we’ll be looking at the formation of the American Solar Grazing Association, a community solar bill in Maine, the winners of the 17th Solar Cup and much much more!

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Wyoming’s first solar trade organization forms – More and more emerging state markets in the U.S. are taking the renewable transition seriously. Now, Wyoming has stepped up to bat with the formation of the state’s first solar trade organization, the aptly named Wyoming Solar Energy Association. WYSE’s mission is stated as “Community engagement through educational outreach, advocacy and business services.” You can check out WYSE here Source: Gillette News Record

American Solar Grazing Association – As there is now a voice for solar in Wyoming, there is also a voice for the partnerships of solar and sheep farms. Well, in New York there is, as the American Solar Grazing Association has formed. The association is a nonprofit serving shepherds who want to partner with solar farmers, vice versa or individuals who are both. Source: American Solar Grazing Association

Turf war: EVGo to install EV chargers at California gas stations –“EVgo is working with Chevron to bring EV fast charging to select Chevron company-owned and operated gas stations in California. Today, more than a dozen EVgo fast chargers – ranging from 50 kW to 100 kW capacity – are already operational or under construction at five Chevron stations to offer convenient charging to EV drivers. These stations are located in Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area communities in California, including Aliso Viejo, Manhattan Beach, Menlo Park, and Venice.” Source: EVGo

Maine bipartisan solar bill – A bill has been introduced in the Maine Senate which would lead to the development of more than 400 MW of community solar power. LD 1711 would establish the development of community solar in Maine, targeted at delivering renewable energy to low-to-moderate income customers. Our take: This is really accelerated development in a state that just a year ago had no net metering and seemingly no solar future. Good on you, Maine! If you’d like to read the bill, you can do so here. Source: Natural Resources Council of Maine

Vote Solar pushes for inclusion of 6 GW solar goal in Governor Cuomo’s plans, will drive ‘thousands of jobs’ – It seems a daunting ask, but Vote Solar has released a report outlining why it is important for New York to add 4.575 GW of solar across the residential, commercial and community solar sectors by 2025, the amount that will be needed to reach Governor Cuomo’s goal of 6 deployed GW. And, once again, you can read the report in full here. Source: Vote Solar

Insight Solar partners with CertainTeed – “Solar energy provider Insight Solar announced today it has partnered with manufacturer CertainTeed to provide a wide range of photovoltaic solar panel solutions for Massachusetts residents. The partnership will provide a 25-year warranty option for Massachusetts homeowners considering making the switch from traditional, fossil fuel-based power to clean, environmentally friendly solar power. Insight provides solar energy consultation, education and installation…. Insight helps homeowners determine whether solar is right for their home, educates them on the benefits of net metering and provides contractors with expertise in solar panel placement and installation for maximum savings.” Source: Insight Solar

Solar Cup winners – The 17th Solar Cup is over and the winners have been announced! The top prizes were awarded to Cypress-based Oxford Academy and Oaks Christian of Westlake Village, California. Oxford Academy took their crown in the veteran’s division, while the newcomer Oaks Christian took the rookie division by storm, racing past the competition. In other recognition The Veteran Division’s “Hottest Looking Boat” went to Calabasas High School, and the Rookies’ hottest came from San Jacinto Valley Academy. The sportsmanship award was given to Compton High School and the teamwork award was won by Anaheim High School. Congrats to all the participants, you guys are truly inspiring! Source: Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

NSG Group to work on development of transparent solar window –“NSG Group has announced a joint development agreement between its subsidiary and Ubiquitous Energy. The ongoing joint development work targets the development, manufacture, and integration of Ubiquitous Energy’s ClearView Power technology into architectural window glass that has the potential to produce solar electricity for buildings. NSG’s participation includes ongoing research and development (R&D) and technical support. Ubiquitous Energy’s transparent solar coating, ClearView Power, selectively absorbs and converts non-visible light (ultraviolet and infrared) to electricity while transmitting visible light.” Source: Ubiquitous Energy

And finally, one more Democratic presidential candidate has joined the ranks of those who say they are willing to participate in a debate on what policies are needed to address climate change.

During selfie lines, people often press notes into my hands to explain why they’re in this fight. Last week in VA, I got a note asking if I support a climate debate. Yes! We need to do everything we can to save our planet. Thanks @usclimatestrike and @MoveOn for leading this. pic.twitter.com/SUykWTptTP

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5 comments

I support solar freedom. My main concern is that any attempt to involve government mandates will backfire (they always get stuck in the past or create unintended consequences, even if well-meaning). I’m totally against “policies” that are enforced at gunpoint. Good ideas should catch on with the public and be their own reward, not forced on everyone because some politician decided to run to the front of a parade and got elected by saying what those in the parade wanted to hear.

An example is the California mandate that new homes get solar– I’ve done solar proposals on new homes and they don’t need solar. Highly efficient new homes should stay out of the market and help keep the price down for homeowners of older homes who have inadequate insulation or other causes of high electric bills. Let the new-home owners put in their pool or hot tub before saddling them with a system that might be the wrong size, anyway. Housing costs in California are already prohibitive without wasting money on a solar mandate.

Thanks for your perspective. But to be clear, clean energy mandates are not enforced “at gunpoint”; they are typically enforced by fines on utilities (alternative compliance payments) who don’t meet RPS/clean energy targets.

It is interesting to hear you reference “keeping the price down” for homeowners of older homes, because there is a compelling economic argument as to why solar on new homes is much more efficient/cheaper. As we have explored in our coverage, solar on new homes has the compelling advantages of both economies of scale and the ease of integrating solar into a new design/lower labor costs, advantages that retrofitted solar will never have.

And I don’t at all get your reasoning as to why solar on new homes would have any economic effect at all on people with older homes who go solar.

In terms of meeting the need of a home, this line of reasoning is not supported by the physics of electricity. Without a battery storage system, PV systems on most homes are not meeting most homeowner’s energy needs during the week, as many people work 9-5 when the system is producing. So what residential PV mostly does is meet the energy needs of the nearest business on that distribution circuit, and this makes the frame of whether or not you are meeting your needs irrelevant.

Per housing costs, yes they are prohibitive in California. Under net metering the very small cost of adding a PV system adds to up-front costs while lowering the cost of living in that home, and since most people either pay rent or a mortgage, solar on new residential buildings is either a wash or an economic benefit to those struggling with housing costs.

A mandate, by definition, is enforced at “gunpoint.” Just try not paying and see what happens. Government has ideas so good, they have to be mandated! An idea with merit will find acceptance by people it benefits, but mandates don’t care who you are or whether you benefit at all.

Right now, demand for solar installers and solar equipment in California is very high. Tariffs at the national level and regulatory changes in the state, have both combined to disrupt supply as it is.

By forcing builders to add it to homes whose buyers don’t really need it, especially when the system may be too small for big households, or too big for small ones, but in any case cost more per month than the utility (despite your economies of install) is a huge cost to those in older homes because of the law of supply and demand. Developers will be bidding up the price during any resulting shortages because they have a mandate to do so. People in older homes can only beat their price or wait.

Consumers who live in hot climates and need air conditioning pay rates structured so they pay penalties if they need more energy to stay cool. If they have an older, less insulated home, they pay much more, every month, than someone in a new house would, just for cooling (all else equal). These “penalty” rates unfairly punish people who cannot buy a new home or remodel an old one, and who now, because of added cost for an unnecessary marginal energy savings from solar mandated for their neighbors in a new home, are even further from buying a new home.

The sick joke is that many new home buyers aren’t saving anything (a “wash”) on their monthly budget, either. With such low usage, despite the savings on install you cite, they are probably paying more to get electricity than they otherwise would have paid to the utility.

We should trust the market to choose what amenities they want in their new home, and allow them to pay more for it. Personally, it makes more sense to me to live there for a year, see what my utility payment is, and then determine whether adding solar makes sense. I can tell you it makes a whole lot more sense to do if you have a higher utility bill. This is why pool owners were early adopters.

I have no personal experience with adding solar during construction, but I have done solar proposals for new homes (1 year old), and the bills are so small in many cases, that there’s no way the cost would be justified even with the economies you cite. Add to that the problem of people who have medical equipment, swimming pools, hot tubs, and electric cars, and the heavy users are likely to be very unhappy to be forced to buy an add-on system to their undersized mandated system.

Homes and businesses don’t have needs. People do. We need to trust them to choose what they want to buy. If it costs less than the utility, they’ll certainly jump at the opportunity, which is how most solar is being sold, voluntarily, today.

It is interesting that you thank me for what you describe as a thoughtful response, but do not appear to have taken the time to read or to consider it.

The claim that all mandates are enforced at gunpoint may be a useful talking point for your anti-government line, but it is false. RPS policies are part of civil code; the penalty for failing to comply is fines. It is only criminal law that is enforced at gunpoint, and this is why there is a whole class of lawyers that works on getting the wealthy to actually pay the fines that are levied on them on civil court.

Also, your lengthy and tiresome argument about “meeting the needs” of homes ignores the simple fact that I explained in my last reply: residential solar mostly does not need meet the needs of homeowners. It meets the demand on the local distribution system where it is installed. Everything else is just the semi-useful fiction of rate design.

Fines are ultimately collected at gunpoint. As I said, if you don’t believe me, try not paying. This is a real and current practice, although it’s very rare that it gets that far; most people cave to the fine collector threats.

On to the way it should be: Yes, I read what you wrote. However since the only legitimate purpose of government regulations is defense of our individual and equal rights, I think you’ll agree that meeting the needs of a “distribution system” is outside the scope of government authority, especially when it violates the rights of individuals, to do so. See the Declaration of Independence for the moral rationale. It’s not “lengthy” or tiresome.” You may describe the way it is, but not what it should be.

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